So one of the obvious problems we have in the US right now is income inequality. The disparity between the 1% (and, to a lesser extent, the 10%) and the rest of the population is enormous. This inequality is behind Silicon Valley fears that they’ll create a permanent underclass, the obvious rejection of Elon Musk’s idiotic advice that people stop saving for retirement, and the old-timey optimism of Hans Moravec that one day we would all own shares in the robot companies that do all the work. In my books, I’ve consistently objected to looking at AI companies through rose-colored glasses. There is no reason to believe people will share when they don’t have to.

In part, that’s why I proposed on this blog that AI image generating companies be required by law to support a public art fund — money that could ensure artists get paid to make art.

Now it it encourages me to advise that we stop letting companies build data centers that offer almost no jobs to the local community (and yet which are often built with tax incentives in place). At least, I suggest we stop letting them do it in ways that exacerbate wealth inequality.

In Alaska, the Permanent Fund Dividend gets paid annually to every citizen. It comes from a fund that gets money from oil/gas/mining rights.

So, if a data center appears in your state/country/whatever then the company owning that center should have to put money in a dividend-bearing fund. Locals should demand it (and the revenue share should be regardless of operating cost, which is to say that even though AI companies are all losing money hand-over-fist they should still make payments based on revenue).

If you’re interested in more of what I think is happening in Silicon Valley and what we should do about it, check out Futureproofing Humanity.